The start of the ber-months marks my father’s birthday. During this time we already feel the cold temperature yet my father decided to celebrate his birthday in one of the resorts at Laguna. Luckily he decided for a hot spring resort, unluckily he decided for a night swimming. Who am I (or we, his children) to contradict when it was his birthday after all?
My father initially wanted to go to Cuyab Hot Spring Resort, our family’s go-to hot spring resort. We arrived at Pansol, Laguna (the place famous for hot spring resorts) past 8pm, thanks to the horrible weekend traffic. Cuyab allows night swimming. The attendant gladly showed us their different types of overnight accommodation. However, I find the price steep for off-season plus the 12-hour accommodation needs to be followed strictly thus, by 8AM, we need to leave or pay additional. I told my mom, that we have to look for another hot spring resort to accommodate us.
Fortunately, a day prior to this impromptu trip, Pag-Ibig distributed my loyalty card that I applied through my work. And it shows some discounted entrance fees and accommodations to some resorts at Laguna. That is how we found ourselves at Monte Vista Hotspring and Conference Resort.
Monte Vista Resort is one of the biggest resorts I have passed by along Laguna. It has 16 swimming pools (7 of which are open during off-season), several slides (only kiddie slides are open during off-season), different accommodations, a play area for kids and recreational area for adults, tables for day and night rent, grilling area, and an area for conference. However, during our visit there was no hot spring swimming pool available, only swimming pools with lukewarm water.
Kiddie pool with slide.
Gigantic off-limits-during-off-season slides.
Yey! A play area! (The brown room in the background is a Lactation Room).
The adults and Neo were busy playing.
We stayed at one of the air-conditioned family rooms with six beds, a bathroom, television set, a stand fan, a wall fan, dresser, and cabinet. This room also has towels and some toiletries (soaps and tissues). The room is big and the air-conditioning unit looks old and I expected us to feel hot, but I was surprised that with 8 of us staying in the room, the room was really cold. We were also given a huge round table outside the room for dining.
Aside from swimming pools and recreation areas, Monte Vista also offers different packages for celebrations such as Christenings, Birthdays, and Weddings.
Monte Vista Resorts offers 50% discount on tariff rates and entrance fees for Pag-Ibig Loyalty Cardholders. Our room was priced at Php2650 for 7 pax and a child, this includes our entrance to the swimming pools as well.
Never mind the cold weather.
I’m ending this blog post with a beautiful view of Mt. Makiling as seen while swimming in one of the swimming pools of Monte Vista.
Mt. Makiling…oh, so beautiful!
PS: This was originally published last January 2017 in my previous blog: Baby Neo’s Mama.
